Web-to-Print Portals: 5 Suggestions for Boosting Utilization

So you’ve added an online resource for ordering and managing your printed projects. Whether you call it web-to-print, a web storefront, an estore or online document management, you expect your system to streamline ordering, more tightly manage your inventory, and lower your costs. Your system may look and perform like a winner, but the portal can only be a success if it is being utilized.

1 Is your portal easy to find?

How do you access the system? Place the link in an area of your website that users are regularly accessing throughout the course of their day. Single sign on (SSO) from your intranet is the easiest way as it doesn’t require a separate login.

2 Make it easy to use!

Have a launch plan. Don’t assume that just because the solution is there, people will use it. Set up a plan to let targeted users know about the system, educate them on how to navigate it and place orders, and continually promote it within the company. (Need help developing a plan? Ask us to help!)

3 Don’t forget new employees and associates.

Add it to your onboarding process. When people get hired within your company, or if a new franchisee is launched, include the print portal as part of their onboarding. If they start using the system from the outset, they’ll keep doing it.

4 Listen to your users.

Be responsive to how people are using the system. If you already manage your print buying online, ask people how they use it and how you can make the process easier. Is the site easy to navigate? Does it contain current items users need and should be ordering? (Many portals contain old and outdated collateral that are rarely or never used.) Do you need to update your portal and add new items? If so, which ones?

5 Designate someone as the System Champion.

Have someone inside the company or system continually champion the system. Maybe that’s someone inside your marketing department or maybe it’s a “super user” that places weekly orders or maybe it’s you!

At BFC, we have been developing technology to automate print since 1999 and currently support 100 online print portals. We are a single source for the production and distribution of traditional print and personalized variable data printing for Insurance, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Membership and Financial organizations. We are continually finding new ways that Web-to-Print portals can benefit our customers. If you want to re-energize your existing portal, or are considering creating an online print source, call 855.668.0538 or click the blue link below. We’d welcome the opportunity to show you how BFC can bring efficiencies to your organization.